Category Archives: Environmental & Industrial

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Environmental & Industrial

Bacteria possible key to produce useful bioplastics from the gasification of urban waste Each year, the European Union produces three billion tonnes of waste. According to Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union), this equates to six tonnes of solid waste for every EU citizen. A major challenge is finding ways to reduce and reuse a large amount of this waste. But now, the EU funded Synpol Project, which aims to propel the sustainable Read More >

A multi-institutional team led by plant biology professor Stephen P. Long from the University of Illinois reports that it can increase sugarcane’s geographic range, boost its photosynthetic rate by 30 percent and turn it into an oil-producing crop for biodiesel production. These are the first steps in a bigger initiative that will turn sugarcane and sorghum – two of the most productive crop plants known – into even more productive, oil-generating plants. The team presented Read More >

A look at some of the Golden State biotechnology companies that are contributing to the development of biofuels and renewable chemicals CELLANA Cellana uses the most productive plants on earth—marine microalgae—to develop bioproducts. Algae photosynthetically produce a line of Omega-3 EPA and DHA oils, animal feed, and biofuel feedstocks. Cellana’s patented system of serial photobioreactors coupled with open ponds, enables low-cost, continuous production of diverse strains of microalgae. Since 2009, Cellana has operated a 6-acre, Read More >

A recent report by the US Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) ranked programs at UC San Diego as the two best in the country for algal biofuels research, including Scripps Institution of Oceanography as top in the nation. For the 28 Algae Technology Area projects reviewed by the panel, Mark Hildebrand and his team at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego were ranked the highest for criteria that included technical progress, Read More >

The research component is anchored by the renowned biotech programs at University of California San Diego (UCSD), the Salk Institute and Scripps Research, which make San Diego a hotbed of biotech innovation. These institutions concentrate biologists, biotech scientists, engineers, and specialists, who in turn attract the entrepreneurs that help convert the research into products and companies. However, it also takes real marketplace demand—often led by a few significant “early adopters”—to put a new technology to Read More >